Larry Hnetka Goes HMmmm

I came away from Vancouver’s Pride Parade with ambivalent feelings.

Twenty-nine years ago, 50 rag-tag human rights protesters marched along Beach Avenue under the threat of arrest because they did not have a police permit.

Last Sunday, The Province newspaper estimated some 385,000 people lined Denman, Beach and Pacific Avenues for a two and a half hour “PRIDE” parade.

Photos of the parade show the politicians, corporations, unions and various other groups proudly marching.

Somehow 29 years ago, an illegal demonstration for equal rights for gay people was almost ignored. The evening news that night showed a 5-second shot of the requisite drag queen.

This year, CTV and its major news anchors waved gaily from a colourful and professional float. Drag queen upon drag queen sat atop convertibles, on floats or walked the entire parade route in spiked high heels.

Naked female breasts, once forbidden in past Pride Parades, bobbled happily from many a female participant and some on-lookers as well.

Politicians, companies marketing to the gay niche, and even a synagogue waved their rainbow coloured flags.

At Sunset Beach, a huge beer garden, food fair and exhibits covered every square inch of that part of the beach.

I watched the parade with friends who had snagged a curbside seat two hours before the parade began. At one point I thought the parade was part freak show, corporate advertorial, pseudo-mardi-gras, and mid-summer mad-hatter party. Somewhere, under the guise of “Pride”, the underlying mandate of the parade was negligible.

After the parade finished, I walked down to Sunset Beach. There was a mass of people walking up Davie Street and along Beach Avenue — thousands of people satisfied at yet another bigger and longer Pride Parade.

I made a point to stop for a moment at the AIDS Memorial near Sunset Beach. Only a few people took the time to walk along the sidewalk to the memorial but rather marched along the street instead.

I talked to Catherine, the director of A Loving Spoonful who gave me a “lick my spoon” fridge magnet. As one of the founding members of A Loving Spoonful, that the need to feed people with HIV/AIDS continues amazes and confounds me. I quickly walked past the booths hawking t-shirts, hand-made jewellry, and info on this or that organization.

I didn’t stay long at the Pride Festival area. I walked home across the Burrard Street bridge and thought about those 50 people who were brave enough to risk arrest 29 years ago.

Those are the people of whom I am not only proud but grateful that today 385,000 people can enjoy a parade celebrating diversity and equal rights.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, August 8th, 2007 at 11:45:50 PM and is filed under JOURNAL. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.